Stitching photos captured in IPhoto

Question

Hope there is an easy solution to this and that I'm just not seeing what it is.
My Canon Powershot camera allows me to "stitch" photos. In the past when I was using a PC I've done that through the Canon "Image Browser" program that came with the camera. Recently I switched to a MAC and IPhoto. My problem is this: I can't find a way to copy photos shot in stitch mode, now captured to IPhoto, to the Canon program to stitch them there.
The Canon program shows a tree/directory, but no where on it can I find the photos now in IPhoto. All that appears related to IPhoto is something called "IPhoto Library Recovery Photos", which is a collection of photos taken over a year ago. All the photos transferred from my old PC are visible but nothing after January when I bought the MAC.
If I go to "Finder" and look at "Pictures" on the basic tree I see all of my old photos nicely arrayed in files by date. I can open each file and get access to the photos separately. As for my new material captured to IPhoto, all I see on the treee is "IPhoto Library". If I click on this I'm taken directly out of finder to the IPhoto program.
Can anyone explain what's happening? Why don't all my photos (now over 200) captured to IPhoto show up as independent files in the "Finder"? How am I to locate the images that need to be stiched and how do I get them into the Canon stitching program,"Image Browser"? Hope someone can help me out.
Thanks.
John

Answer 1

There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
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(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
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*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Note that iPhoto sends a copy+ of the file to Photoshop, so when you save be sure to use the Save command, not Save As... If you use Save As then you're creating a new file and iPhoto has no way of knowing about this new file. iPhoto is preserving your original anyway.
Regards
TD